Please tell me I'm being daft - Washer Bases

[ShortscaleDave]

I tend to get a bit OCD sometimes.... I LOVE the feel and low profile of washers, and I tend to make sure they are well glued and fullt detailed basing .... but now I'm worried about them corroding and having to rebasing....I suspect it would be nearly impossible with my OCD gluing etc.  I'm being stupid aren't I?   Any experience with this worry of mine to refute it??!

I'm almost considering basing on Tiddlywinks and then spot-gluing them to the washers to aid some hypothetical rebasing schema...  i.e OCD over engineering... HALP!!!

[Cubs]

You might get a bit of discolouration, but I don't think they're going to crumble into rust. Unless you game at the bottom of the sea ... which might be fun actually.

[obsidian3d]

Prime them like you would a metal figure and you should be fine.

[YPU]

I've seen some washers endure conditions that would have reduced a plastic base to dust. IMHO anything that's going to effect your washers is going to damage your paint a lot sooner.

[Captain Blood]

I've got figures based on washers going back 15 years, and they're still shiny as heck on the underside.
Pretty sure that as long as you don't keep your figures somewhere damp, stainless steel washers will remain forever, um.. stainless.

[FramFramson]

You might get a bit of discolouration, but I don't think they're going to crumble into rust. Unless you game at the bottom of the sea ... which might be fun actually.

I'm sure there have even been a couple of threads with images of such games right here on LAF 

[Cubs]

Pretty sure that as long as you don't keep your figures somewhere damp, stainless steel washers will remain forever, um.. stainless.

A pointless diversion here - I used to work in a kitchen supplies shop and we used to get customers kicking off because they'd put stainless steel in the dishwasher and over time it had discoloured. Not an easy sell, to persuade people that 'stainless steel' can, and often does, stain when in contact with certain chemicals (ie. the salt in the dishwasher). What it won't do is rust. But it might stain. Which makes 'stainless' a bloody stupid name for the stuff.

[Cory]

Wait until the door on their $4000 refrigerator stains from cleaning solutions and see how they cry.

As to washers, I haven't had an issue and some of mine have had figs glued to them for more than twenty years.

Of course I am in a near desert mountain climate, conditions might make a difference.

[YPU]

We have a average air moisture of 85 to 90 and still no problems. I could see that if you lived next to the sea things would be different.

[traveller]

My big fear is not rust, but the dreaded led rot. As long as we keep our toys in warm dry, places we should be fine. I had some Ral Partha historicals stored in the garage and they all got the led rot. Scary stuff...

[ShortscaleDave]

Thanks for all the replies chaps!  Fears definietly allayed somewhat.  I kinda reasoned that if the bases were to go south, then any metal mini on it would probably have gone the same way too by that point... Still OCD can be annoying when you just want to get a mini finished

[Zoggin-eck]

But it might stain. Which makes 'stainless' a bloody stupid name for the stuff.

Stainless, not stainfree as a bolt supplier I deal with through work says to me!

There are of course different grades of stainless, too. As for miniatures, I'd be surprised if any zinc washers rusted under normal circumstances and even less so with galvanised. Paint them totally ShortscaleDave, and I'd feel safe. If it's really an issue buy stainless or admit defeat and go for Renedra plastics.

[CPBelt]

I use fender washers, which are galvanized. Made for roofing, so no rusting. I just have to sort through the big box of them to find those that lie perfectly flat--that's my OCD thing!